World Health Organization (W.H.O.) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus published a diplomatic statement on Thursday stating that his agency has no evidence of any outbreak of plague in northeastern Russia — but revealing that Moscow had been less forthcoming than appropriate and demanding more information.
Public health officials around the world were put on alert this week after news surfaced locally in Irkutsk, Siberia, that a worker at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute identified as 28-year-old Daria Shipilova died of a respiratory condition, allegedly after she had broken a test tube containing a live pathogen during her work hours. Russia’s top government health agency, Rospotrebnadzor, confirmed Shipilova’s death this week, but specified only that she suffered from a “pneumonia of unknown origin” and that testing did not find any pathogen active in her body compatible with those she was studying at the laboratory. It notably did not indicate whether it found any pathogen in her body at all, a critical piece of information Tedros appeared most interested in during his remarks on Thursday.
“[W.H.O.] is aware that the Russian government held a meeting on the 2nd of October because they suspected a resident of the Irkutsk oblast had contracted a dangerous infection,” Tedros shared. “On Saturday, W.H.O. asked the Russian Federation for more information in accordance with the International Health Regulations.”
“On Tuesday, the Russian Federation responded, saying that no case of plague had recently been reported in the Irkutsk oblast, and that they had placed about 200 contacts in quarantine,” he continued. “However, W.H.O. has requested further information on the laboratory tests conducted on the individual who died and the contacts, more detail on what prompted the public health measures, and details about the health status of the contacts.”
Tedros also mentioned unverified reports that a second worker at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute had fallen ill. The Russian government has vehemently denied this report, but Tedros nonetheless emphasized that his agency is seeking more information.
“As we don’t yet have the full picture of this event, we are not able to conduct a full risk assessment,” he concluded. “Timely, complete, and transparent information sharing under the International Health Regulations is essential to clarify conflicting reports and enable an accurate assessment of potential public health risks.”
Tedros’s cautious but firm statement demanding more information is notably distinct from the agency’s reaction to the early reports of an unknown respiratory pathogen circulating in Wuhan, China, in late 2019 — a pathogen later identified as the novel Wuhan coronavirus which went on to kill over 7 million people globally.
The W.H.O. was quick to declare in January 2020 that “preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV).”
Tedros only challenged the Chinese government to be more forthcoming about information regarding the local outbreak years after it had become a pandemic. The W.H.O.’s investigation into the origins of the novel coronavirus took place over a year after the outbreak, allowing time for China to “disinfect” critical early samples of the virus, and made no conclusions regarding what it intended to investigate.
Tedros’s comments on Russia’s vague responses to its requests follows the W.H.O. stating on Wednesday that the Russian government claimed it had no signs of pneumonic plague spreading in Siberia. The Kremlin, meanwhile, has demanded that the public listen only to the public health agency Rospotrebnadzor and decreed nearly all published news about the matter incorrect.
“The media reports a great deal,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday. “The vast majority of what the media is reporting regarding this situation is false information.”
On Thursday, Russian authorities denied unverified reports circulating that a second person who worked at the Irkutsk laboratory fell ill.
“Comprehensive preventive and anti-epidemic measures have been implemented. There are no epidemic risks to the population of the city of Irkutsk and the Irkutsk region,” Rospotrebnadzor said.
It also reported that the Russian government had completed about 90 percent of contact tracing related to Shipilova and had not found any evidence of plague spreading. The agency has also denied local reports of quarantines being implemented in the region. Local media published an interview this week with Svetlana Shipilova, the deceased’s mother, who vehemently denied reports that her daughter had broken a test tube carrying a live pathogen. The elder Shipilova reportedly insisted that “a test tube is unbreakable” and lamented that she had “stupid friends” who believed the story. An anonymous friend was also quoted in local reports accusing anyone suspecting a laboratory leak of “smearing” the late Shipilova.
The Moscow Times reported on Thursday that locals in Irkutsk are reporting no significant public health activities in the area.
“There are no conversations on the streets, no bustle, no fear, no lines at the pharmacies like there were during Covid,” an unnamed woman reportedly said, noting that “panic” had initially set in, but “then memes began to appear online and everyone calmed down.”